The pandemic forced us to rethink everything. The rules were rewritten and a new wave of resilience formed. The same spirit was at work at Star Sports too – how could we recreate the atmospheric magic of a full stadium from the safety of our homes and take our coverage to the next level?

One of the first areas of change was production. We introduced the concept of a "hub and spoke production model" where crew operated from home. The model was a temporary solution, but aspects of it are delivering long term benefits, saving money and reducing the company’s carbon footprint.

Next, the team then took on the mammoth task of redesigning the viewing experience. This included new perspectives via 360 camera views and 4D replays, crowd-sourced AR graphics and optical tracking of players.

One of the most important factors was sound design. While a select group of fans in stadiums had lost their voices, millions of fans at home had never been represented- in the stadium or on TV.

This was an opportunity to give a voice to all. Star Lab, created ‘Cheer@Home’ a world- first, curated, interactive audio platform. Viewers responded to action with emojis and then heard their cheers and chants in the broadcast audio.

Disney+ Hotstar users reacted at unprecedented scale, clicking over 4.8 Billion Emojis in 59 matches! Next up, studio production was due a tech revamp and this started with the creation of some stunning photorealistic virtual sets and leveraging XR for in depth analysis, part of the Lab’s collaboration with Epic Games, creators of Unreal Engine.